Ladies, how many of you had chicken pox when you were a kid or even older? You may or may not be aware that having had chicken pox greatly increases your chances of developing shingles later on in life which can also increase your risk of developing heart disease.

“Shingles is a condition caused by the same virus responsible for chickenpox (herpes zoster). Over 90% of North Americans are infected with herpes zoster, which means we have been exposed to it and have evidence of the virus in our bloodstream. One out of three people will not get a rash. Perhaps as a child you only had a fever, runny nose, and body aches. But after exposure, the virus travels, hides, and lives quietly in your nerve cells called neurons. Studies suggest that the virus prefers special neurons called ganglions in our upper body that control pain in our upper trunk, chest, and face.”

“Years later, when conditions are right, the virus can “wake up,” reproduce itself, and travel to the skin by way of sensory nerve fibers resulting in an incurable, burning, painful, blister-like rash. Usually, the pain and blisters are on one side of the upper or lower back, chest, abdomen, or face. Days to months prior to the blisters, there is burning pain (like a sunburn), and the rash arrives lasting 7 to 10 days. A more serious subset of the disease, herpes zoster ophthalmicus, affects the face and eye, causing pain and visual problems, and the loss of independent living for older sufferers. The blisters and pain can be treated by pain and antiviral medications, which shorten the course of the virus and help prevent a chronic pain syndrome called postherpetic neuralgia(PHN).”

When shingles develop on the face and around the eyes, the pain can be debilitating and it can interfere with vision and hearing. If the shingles infects the eye, it can cause permanent loss of vision. If there are any open sores that get infected with shingles, it can result in the destruction in the underlying tissue and scarring on the skin. The intense pain from shingles can be persistent, last for months and even years. It can interfere with sleep and many normal daily activities and has been a direct cause of depression in some individuals. If a person with an immune deficiency or a suppressed immune system develops shingles, the rash can become more extensive, last longer and can lead to other illnesses including pneumonia.

Unfortunately, shingles occurs more in females than males, but both are susceptible. Sorry, ladies, but it seems that shingles loves to strike women during and shortly after menopause. Women are also more like to have recurrences of shingles than men.

The older a person gets, the greater chances they have of developing shingles. Some studies have claimed that 50% of the people age 80 will develop some form of shingles. Since the virus that causes shingles is part of the same herpes simplex that causes cold sores on the lips, people who are prone to cold sores are also more prone to developing shingles as they get older.

Some studies also indicate that the development of shingles can increase one’s risk of developing heart disease. Whether a direct cause of the virus or due to the stress shingles puts on the body, including mental and emotional stress, researchers are not sure, but they do believe there is an increased risk of heart disease.

There is a shingles vaccine available at most doctors’ offices and even many pharmacies. It’s highly recommended that everyone, especially women over the age of 50, get a shingles vaccine. Even if the vaccine isn’t covered by basic Medicare, it’s a couple hundred dollars well spent, especially if you are prone to cold sores.

Liberals in America have been pushing hard to pass stricter gun control laws. They use the argument that guns kill and they want to save lives. They rarely admit that it’s not guns that kill, but it’s people that kill.

But when is the last time you heard any liberal push for stricter tobacco control laws or for the total banning of all tobacco products?

Compare the statistics that show that guns kill between 33,000 and 35,000 Americans a year and just smoking kills 480,000 Americans a year. That’s not to mention the 16 million Americans living with a tobacco related disease. Those diseases include heart disease, cancer, lung disease, stroke diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Compare these numbers with the 33,000 Americans that die from guns. I’m not trying to trivialize gun deaths as any death is tragic, but when compared to the effects of tobacco use, gun deaths pale in comparison.

“Total economic cost of smoking is more than $300 billion a year, including

Nearly $170 billion in direct medical care for adults5

More than $156 billion in lost productivity due to premature death and exposure to secondhand smoke.”

Just think of the billions of dollars and millions of lives that could be saved if tobacco was banned.

Millions of Americans would quickly begin reversing some of the harmful effects of tobacco.

When someone smokes tobacco products, the tiny hair-like structures in the lungs known as cilia become somewhat paralyzed and unable to move the mucus that builds up, out of the lungs and the lining of the lungs become inflamed. The mucus begins to accumulate, leading to coughing and eventually worse. Additionally, the blood stream picks up carbon monoxide from the smoke. The carbon monoxide replaces oxygen in the blood stream, resulting in the loss of energy and muscle function causing fatigue. Prolonged use results in the accumulation of dangerous toxic chemicals in the lungs that often cause cancer. The lack of oxygen in the blood over a prolonged period leads to heart disease, stroke and diabetes as well lung diseases.

When someone stops smoking, it doesn’t take long for the inflammation in the lungs to begin to heal. The cilia again begin to function normally, moving mucus up and out of the lungs. They work to clean the lungs of dirt, mucus and even some of the toxic chemical residues. As the lungs clean out, it reduces the risk of lung cancer and more.

The overall benefit of banning tobacco products greatly outweighs the benefits of banning guns from law abiding citizens (criminals will always find a way to get a gun if they really want to). Therefore, there is a far greater reason to push stricter tobacco control laws than gun control laws. Besides saving 20 times more lives a year, it will reduce the cost of healthcare for everyone.

For the past few years, coconut oil has been touted as one of the superfoods to be used in most of your cooking needs. It has become the oil of choice for many Paleo diets, making it fashionable among the health conscious trendy set.

After all, coconut oil is loaded with vitamin E. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that helps removes free radicals and toxins from the body. It’s known to help with eye disorders such as cataracts, premenstrual syndrome, neurological diseases, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease, to name just a few.

Coconut oil also contains:

Lauric acid which is supposed to help fight infections and is good for the skin.

Caprylic, a fatty acid that works as an anti-fungal agent.

Proteins which are considered good for the body.

What many like is that coconut oil is also somewhat affordable.

Coconut oil has a pleasant aroma that can fill a room with a wonderful fragrance.

Lastly, coconut oil is tropical and helps with the trendy image of being health conscious. So why wouldn’t anyone want to rush right out and buy some coconut oil and become a trendy, fashionable health conscious person?

I did! I was using extra-virgin olive oil, but after hearing a number of reports on the wonderful benefits of coconut oil, I went out and bought a couple jars of coconut oil, believing I was being healthier.

However, coconut oil is a saturated fat. Yes, it’s been touted as being a ‘good’ saturated fat and better for you than other saturated fats like butter and beef fat (lard), so, is it the superfood it’s supposed to be? In fact, coconut oil contains more saturated fat (82%) than butter (63%) and beef fat (50%) and pork lard (39%).

Not according to a new report that says that coconut oil is best put on your body but not in your body.

The American Heart Association has issued a warning about using coconut oil. In fact, they have recommended NOT using coconut oil for cooking or eating. They based their recommendation on seven studies using coconut oil. In all seven trials, using coconut oil actually raised the levels of LDL, also known as bad cholesterol. LDL is the stuff that clogs arteries and causes heart attacks and/or leads to heart by-pass surgeries.

Dr. Frank Sachs, the lead author of the AHA report on coconut oil, stated:

“We want to set the record straight on why well-conducted scientific research overwhelmingly supports limiting saturated fat in the diet to prevent diseases of the heart and blood vessels.”

Sachs and others recommend using olive or sunflower oils and spreads. Switching from coconut oil to olive or sunflower oil has been shown to lower LDL by nearly the same magnitude as some cholesterol-lowering medications.

However, Sachs did not say to stop using coconut oil or to throw out the coconut oil you have setting on your shelf. He did say:

Millions of Americans use over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers for a variety of reasons – headaches, muscle or joint pain, pain related to an illness or chronic condition, temporarily reduce a fever, and more. Far too many people abuse these OTC pain relievers and take them for everything or as a part of their daily regime.

But are we aware of some of the dangers of using these ITC pain relievers too frequently?

There are four major types of OTC – aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil), and naproxen (Aleve).

Aspirin has been in use for over 2,000, but it wasn’t called aspirin until 1899, when Bayer named it. It is part of a group of drugs known as NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug), and used not only for pain, but to reduce swelling and inflammation. It’s long been a favorite to help relieve a toothaches as American Indians used to chew willow bark (the original source of the main ingredient in aspirin).

Over the past couple of decades, aspirin has been recommended to improve heart health, circulation and reduce the possibility of heart attacks. Today, many doctors recommend taking a low-dose aspirin (less than 100mg per tablet) a day for heart health. My wife and I both take a low-dose aspirin (81mg) daily as recommended by our doctor.

However, aspirin is not the wonder drug it was touted to be for years as it, like many other NSAIDs, are hard on the stomach lining and may lead to bleeding ulcers. This is why so many companies make a buffered aspirin, where it is combined with a buffer substance to help prevent the harsh effects on the stomach lining.

Acetaminophen is technically known as paracentamol and was discovered around 1877. It is used for pain and fever relief and sometimes combined with other medications to relieve symptoms of things like the common cold. Acetaminophen is widely available as a generic drug but is also the main ingredient in Tylenol and Panadol.

Some years back, it was discovered that too much acetaminophen could lead to kidney and/or liver damage. It’s also fatal to some animals including house cats. In 2007, in a report on the dangers of acetaminophen it was reported:

“What if a dietary supplement was proven to cause liver damage, liver failure and death? What if each year, this same supplement caused 100,000 calls to poison control centers, 56,000 emergency room visits, 26,000 hospitalizations, and more than 450 deaths from liver failure alone?…”

“Many drugs can cause liver damage, liver failure, and death. Yet, acetaminophen prompts the most calls to poison control centers—more than 100,000 per year. Each year, acetaminophen accounts for about 56,000 emergency room visits, 26,000 hospitalizations, and more than 450 deaths from liver failure. Acetaminophen causes more cases of acute liver failure than all other medications combined.”

My family used to take Tylenol for many things until these reports came out and then we switched to Advil or generic ibuprofen.

Naproxen (Aleve) is used like the others for pain and sore muscle relief. It is also often recommended for osteoarthritis and gout pain. However, like most NSAIDs, it can be harsh on the stomach if taken too frequently. More recent reports have indicated that many NSAIDs can reduce blood to the kidneys and increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. Like the others listed above, these should be taken only when needed and not for prolonged periods of time.

Ibuprofen (Advil) has long been thought of as the safest or less dangerous of the four main OTC pain relievers, but a recent study indicates that it also has its dangers. This OTC, like the others is also used to relieve pain of headaches, lower fever and reduce inflammation. However, a very recent study is placing a dire warning on the use of ibuprofen:

“Some common pain relievers may increase the risk of cardiac arrest, according to a new study from Denmark.”

“In the study, researchers found a link between the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) — including ibuprofen — and an increased risk of cardiac arrest, which is when the heart suddenly stops beating.”

“The findings add to those of previous research, which has also found a link between NSAID use and a higher risk of heart problems, including heart attack, stroke and heart failure. The new study is the first to look specifically at the impact of NSAIDs on cardiac-arrest risk.”

The bottom line is that all of the aforementioned OTC pain and fever relievers have their beneficial uses but they also have their dangers and everyone needs to be aware of what those dangers are. Take them only when necessary, not for prolonged periods of time, do not take more than the recommended safe dosage and always check with your doctor. None of them, not even ibuprofen is the wonder drug it was once thought of.